The present invention relates to communications systems in general. More specifically, the invention relates to techniques to efficiently deliver interactive program guide (IPG) in a server-centric system.
Over the past few years, the television industry has seen a transformation in a variety of techniques by which its programming is distributed to consumers. Cable television systems are doubling or even tripling system bandwidth with the migration to hybrid fiber coax (HFC) cable plant. Customers unwilling to subscribe to local cable systems have switched in high numbers to direct broadcast satellite (DBS) systems. And, a variety of other approaches have been attempted focusing primarily on high bandwidth digital technologies, intelligent two-way set top terminals, or other methods of trying to offer service differentiated from standard cable and over-the-air broadcast systems.
With this increase in bandwidth, the number of programming choices has also increased. Leveraging off the availability of more intelligent set top terminals, several companies such as Starsight Telecast Inc. and TV Guide, Inc. have developed elaborate systems for providing an interactive listing of a vast array of channel offerings, expanded textual information about individual programs, and the ability to look forward to plan television viewing as much as several weeks in advance.
With this increase in the quantity of programming, it is a challenge to deliver program guide data to viewers in an efficient and effective manner. A large amount of resources (e.g., bandwidth) would normally be needed to continually transmit, for example, two weeks of programming for 200 channels. Therefore, efficient and effective techniques to deliver interactive program guide to a large number of viewers are highly desirable.
Moreover, the increased bandwidth has allowed service providers to offer various services such as regular programming, pay-per-view (PPV), video-on-demand (VOD), music channels, and so on. The large amount of programming offered by each of these services typically necessitates the use of a separate user interface especially adopted for the service. As more services are provided and the complexity of these services increases, the user interfaces becomes more complicated to implement and for users to navigate. Thus, an integrated user interface that supports these various services, especially interactive program guide (IPG) and VOD, are highly desirable.